This invention relates to a disk adapter. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technical field of a disk adapter on which a disk-type recording medium onto and from which recording and reproduction of an information signal are performed is mounted.
Disk-type recording media, for example, compact disks (CD), are divided into a large diameter type having a diameter of 12 cm and a small diameter type having another diameter of 8 cm. In order to use a CD of the small diameter type, for example, on a disk playback apparatus, the CD of the small diameter type is sometimes mounted on and used together with a disk adapter.
A conventional disk adapter has such a structure that it has a substantially annular shape and a plurality of holding pieces are provided in an equidistantly spaced relationship from each other on an inner circumferential edge thereof such that the holding pieces may exert biasing force toward the center of the disk adapter. A disk-type recording medium is held by the biasing force toward the center side of the holding pieces which are engaged with an outer circumferential edge thereof.
In the conventional disk adapter, however, in order to mount a disk-type recording medium onto the disk adapter, operation is required to dispose the disk-type recording medium on the inner circumference side of the disk adapter and then engage the plurality of holding pieces provided in a spaced relationship from each other in a circumferential direction with the outer circumferential edge of the disk-type recording medium. On the other hand, in order to remove the disk-type recording medium from the disk adapter, operation is required to cancel the engagement of the outer circumferential edge of the disk-type recording medium with the plurality of holding pieces and remove the disk-type recording medium from the disk adapter. Therefore, mounting and removing operations of the disk-type recording medium onto and from the disk adapter take much time and are cumbersome.
Therefore, it is a subject of the disk adapter of the present invention to overcome the problem described above and make it possible for mounting and removing operations of a disk-type recording medium onto and from a disk adapter to be performed readily.
In carrying out and according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk adapter for receiving a disk-type recording medium on an inner circumference side thereof, comprising: a main plate portion having a substantially arcuate shape of a central angle of 180xc2x0 or more; and a supporting portion formed on a half circumference side of the inner circumference of the main plate portion for supporting the disk-type recording medium mounted on the disk adapter.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording and/or playback apparatus, comprising: carrying means for carrying a disk adapter for receiving a disk-type recording medium on an inner circumference side thereof from an insertion position to a chucking position; mounting means for mounting the disk-type recording medium carried to the chucking position; and control means for controlling the carrying means so that, when the disk-type recording medium is mounted on the mounting means, the carrying means may carry the disk adapter to a position spaced away from the disk-type recording medium.